American Airlines CEO apologizes for racist ‘body odor’ incident

The head of American Airlines has apologized for a racist incident on board one of his planes in January. In a memo, CEO Robert Isom addressed the “body odor” incident that drew the ire of the NAACP.

“It is important that we address an unacceptable incident in which eight Black passengers were temporarily removed from one of our flights and then reboarded,” Isom’s memo, a copy of which was obtained by Quartz, said.

The affected passengers sued the airline in federal court last month. They claimed they were told they would be removed from their flight because an airline employee said they smelled bad. But even another airline employee told them that was just a fig leaf of an excuse.

“Plaintiffs were not told that they themselves had body odor, and in fact none of the plaintiffs had any offensive body odor,” the complaint from three of the passengers states. “When plaintiffs pointed out that it appeared they had been singled out because of their black skin color, at least one of the American representatives said, ‘I agree. I agree.’ Plaintiffs were told that they and the other black male passengers would all have to be rebooked on another flight.” The case is ongoing.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which only a few years ago issued and then retracted a travel warning for blacks warning against flying on American Airlines planes, made a statement Earlier this month, it said: “Recent discriminatory actions by company employees demonstrate the urgent need for continued accountability and resolution of this clear pattern.”

“I am incredibly disappointed by what happened on this flight and the failure of our procedures. It goes against our values, what we stand for, who we are and our purpose to accompany people on their life journey. We failed in our obligations and let our customers down in this incident.”

In response, American Airlines said it was establishing a new diversity-focused advisory council, which it disbanded last year after consulting with the NAACP. The NAACP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We are establishing a new oversight and excellence advisory group focused on improving the travel experience for Black customers,” Isom’s memo said. “Building on the accomplishments of our previous council, this group will help us maintain standards, define processes and escalation procedures, measure our actions, and improve feedback loops to ensure we are meeting our commitments to Black travelers.”